THE CHRISTIANArticle by Yuko NakaoApril 13, 2014

The Life of Jesus Christ as ballet performance “MESSIAH” by ABC-Tokyo Ballet Co.On April 18 2014, ABC-Tokyo Ballet Company (hereunder ABC) will perform “Messiah” and “Swanlake (2nd act)” at Meguro Persimmon Hall. ABC is lead by Christians, starting with the Artistic Directors Christian Martinu and Rio Mitani (husband and wife) as well as other Christians at the core of the company.

Christian, who will dance the role of Jesus, is originally from Vienna, Austria. Rio, who talks to us today, was born in Japan but raised in Vienna since the age of 1. They met each other in a ballet company in Austria, got married, instructed ballet in Alaska, were invited as soloist dancers to various American ballet companies and in 2003 came to Japan.

Japan was only intended to be a vacation, but when they taught ballet, more and more students started to gather in their classes so they thought, "Why not work on a choreography?", which soon turned into, "Why not start our own ballet company?" - and that was how ABC began.

"Christian and I both felt the urge to do missionary work through ballet. But all we could think of was occasionally perform in churches. We were wondering how to contribute to the Kingdom of Heaven through our gift of dance."They were also considering to form a ballet company with only Christian dancers.

"But if we were going to start a ballet company, we would want it to be on the highest technical standard. So gathering only Christian dancers was not an option - rather, gathering strong dancers that will come to know God through our ballet company. That was what we wanted to do."They are regularly holding bible studies in a family restaurant, open to dancers that wish to participate. 8 people were lead to Holy Baptism.

Christian dancers and staff approached them to offer their services as volunteers. When the directors expressed their regret about not being able to compensate them, they replied: "Don't worry about it. We are not working for the two of you, but for God.""Christian and I are officially the Artistic Directors, but the true Director has been God all the time."

The company's non classical, bible based ballets are "Moses", "Joseph and Mary" and "Messiah". This is the first time they rent a public theatre to present a Christian piece. They were not sure whether they would be able to gather enough audience to compensate for all the expenses, but they decided to proceed inspite of it - and were blessed with sponsors. “This is not something made of human hands alone anymore. All we do is keep our faith and give our all.”

Rio and Christian wish that many Non-Christians will come to see the performance. “It is not too easy to invite someone to church, but much easier to treat someone with an interest to a ballet performance. This Messiah ballet is about the life of Jesus Christ, a real chance to spread the good news. I want to ask the Christians to invite Non-Christians to this performance.”

In Messiah they tell about the creation of world, Jesus’ life, his crucifixion and resurrection - all through dance. The sin of humankind will be represented by a red scarf around the dancers’ necks. They are also going to hand out little illustrated booklets at the day of the performance, so that Non-Christians will also be able to follow the story. “What we do is sowing a seed through ballet. What grows out of this is in God’s hands. We want to keep developing this piece over the years, so that one day people from all over Japan will come to see it.”